Friday, June 24, 2011

stop making sense

anybody who knows me knows how much i love david byrne as a musician, cultural ambassador who introduced the music of tropicalia to those of us north of the equator, as a cycling advocate and as an artist. i remember sitting in a theater watching "stop making sense" on a big screen when it came out in 1984. the theater had dolby surround sound (a big deal back then). i was in bliss watching my favorite art band funk it's way through the film starting with psycho killer.

in 1987 when i moved to the navajo nation i used to park in front of my tv and play bongos along with steve scales on my vhs copy of the movie. "i lost my shape trying to act casual. if i don't stop, i might end up in the hospital."

one of my favorite reads last year was byrne's "bicycle diaries."

so yeah, i was super stoked when gaia recommended me as a public artist to participate in a project to reinterpret the logo for david byrne's record company. three other street artists, including gaia (http://www.gaiastreetart.com/), were chosen for the initial phase of this meme campaign.

here's what byrne said about the logo some time ago...

Many times I have been asked about the symbolism of the Luaka Bop logo. It has been described variously as a leaf, a spade and a heart. None of these are strictly correct.

The logo, whose use is granted through an agreement that is subject to certain conditions, is a rather obscure Masonic symbol linked at various times to the Trinity of the Illuminati and to the Egyptian Knights of Templar. The Knights were guardians of the secrets of harmony. Hence the obvious and appropriate connection to music. But their concept of harmony was much greater and ranging than our own- not only encompassing the harmony of the spheres, of the heavens, but the harmony of inner fluids and dynamic forces- and in the case of the Egyptian Knights these were ruled by the dead. The Knights believed that the dead are the custodians of the present day, and that no harmony can be true and lasting without their assistance.

Today, the symbol exists as a vessel for music, text and image, through which it’s members communicate to the population at large, Alan Greenspan and occasionally Jaques Chirac.

The eye of the Luaka Bop log is the eye of Vilaç Trimegistes, the Balkan alchemist who gave his eyes to his work, and who was the first to uncover the secrets of the Egyptian Knights. The shape and purportion of the Eye of Vilaç is in a mathematical relationship to the vessel, or “heart”. The heart being considered a vessel not only for the blood, but for the dead. The rays, “thorns” or nails that line and protect the vessel were incorporated during the middle ages, an addition that was deemed necessary in lieu of the then power of the Papacy."